Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After The Cold War?

Nostalgia has had a subtle, yet constant, presence in Egypt’s public and political life for the past half a century. It seems that it has affected almost every aspect of life, with elements of it being traceable in various literary and artistic works and even ideological discourses. Moreover, the arrival of the Internet and the popularization of social media further multiplied and diversified the expressions of nostalgia, with vintage photographs, recordings and historical memes circulating on countless Facebook pages and blogs.
Given its prominence, it is not surprising that the phenomenon has received its fair share of academic attention, with scholars examining various aspects of Egyptians’ strong emotional connection to the past, its
The first one is developed by Way and Levitski and is concerned with the study of authoritarianism, specifically the durability of hybrid regimes. In their book, Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War, Way and Levitski examine the ways in which party-based authoritarian regimes in Sub-Saharan Africa dealt with the political and economic crisis brought by the end of the Cold War. They conclude that while patronage and repression alone might be sufficient in protecting the regime in stable times, it is not enough to ensure survival in times of crisis. The most robust regimes, they argue, would combine patronage and repression with forging non-material ties, derived from shared history, thus ensuring survival. As the economic situation in Egypt is verging on a crisis, it could be expected that the regime would attempt to emphasize the non-material ties by depicting a selective picture of the past. Thus, it is likely that the regimes actions in this direction would increase the visibility of certain views of the past and perhaps politicize the issue of
In particular, they are concerned with the question of whether the sentiment is created by genuine admiration of the past or by disillusionment with the present. After studying the case in ten Eastern European countries they conclude that while the issue is somewhat complex, nostalgia is affected more by disappointment with the shortcomings of the transition, rather than by the achievements of the past regime. Thus, in the case of Egypt, it could be expected that the political and economic developments, especially changes perceived as negative, would affect the expression of nostalgia and people’s understanding of the